History: Dark Age of Camelot

Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) was released on October 10, 2001. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology and Irish Celtic legends with a dash of high fantasy. It is set in the period after King Arthur’s death and his kingdom has split into three parts which are in a constant state of war with each other.

NOR opened its DAoC branch shortly before the launch of the game under Lord Aglavalinn. The branch operated until May 6, 2007 when it was closed by a vote of the NOR High Council.

Branch History
2001
The DAoC branch was opened under Lord Aglavalinn at launch. He helmed the branch for its first two months of existence and was the first member of the branch to reach top level. Count Skorj was promoted to Branch Leader on Dec. 3.

2002
In February Lord WilhelmG took over as Realm Leader when Lord Aglavalinn stepped down. A period of rapid expansion to start the year, and the overall health of the branch under Skorj’s leadership earned him a promotion to Duke on March 4th. The branch grew during this period to house two counties and five baronies. In June, Skorj landed a very large block of “recruits” when the New OutRiders merged with the Shields of Hibernia. This brought Kasara, Rallis, Lelenia, Perrantin, Elfiran, Oakstar, and Ponchovilla to the new Muire’s Tomb Barony. Kasara, Rallis and Lelenia would all become officers down the road.

In August, discussions started with the guild The Silver Hawks, about having their guild join NOR. On August 30th that trigger was pulled and the Sheeroe Hills Barony was formed (under Count Talolan, acting as Baron). That brought members, Mathais, Vashile, Tyza, Gav, Jormungandr, Livusa, Binia, Seerpent, Chesster and Taemus. On Nov. 17, Mathais would be promoted to Baron.

Game Events:

Feb 8: Patch 1.45 saw the introduction of an Epic Zone with a Realm Dragon for each of the game’s three realms. At this point NOR was a well respected guild in Hibernia on the Gawaine server and led several (unsuccessful) attempts at the Hibernian
Dragon, Cuuldurach the Glimmer King.
March 5: Patch 1.47 saw the ability of guilds to claim frontier keeps. For most of the next two years, a keep in the frontier on the Gawaine server would fly the NOR flag.
April 9: Patch 1.49 saw the addition of the Darkness Falls dungeon.
Nov. 12: heralded the release of DAoC’s first expansion, the Shrouded Isles, which added 2 new clases and one new race to
each of the game’s three factions.

2003
The branch followed through on its strong 2002, with an equally strong 2003. Skorj stepped down as Branch Leader, which lead to the very deserving promotion of Count Gilenrod to Duke and Branch Leader on June 29.
Game Events:
June 19: Foundations, a free expansion, adds player housing to DAoC.
Oct 28: Trials of Atlantis, the game’s second full expansion is released, it includes three new races and Master Levels.

2004
On March 14, Count Asrana took over as Branch Leader when Duke Gilenrod stepped down. Asrana worked tirelessly to keep the branch alive and thriving, but the releases of EverQuest 2 and World of Warcraft in November made a serious dent in the
population of the DAoC branch.

Game Events:
June 22: The free New Frontiers, expansion remakes the game’s RvR into one large zone, instead of having separate frontier
zones for each realm.
Dec 7: Catacombs, the third full expansion, adds five new classes, instanced dungeons, and new art for old player models, and
dungeons (except Darkness Falls).

2005
Branch history incoming…
November 6: SweetPe announces the promotion of Temaile to Count and Arizen to Baron. Branch is reporting approximately 12 members.

Game Events:
Oct 11: Darkness Rising, the forth full expansion, adds champion weapons, player mounts, Champion Levels and subclassing,
new dungeons and instanced zones for the new Champion Quests and new graphics for the game world’s models.

2006
With membership already flagging, the release of Dungeons & Dragons Online spells eventual doom for the DAoC branch.
January 22: High Council meeting includes the current Realm Leader of DAoC, Lady Sille with Lord Ayeone in attendance,
although he is not an official member of the CoC;
February 12: SweetPe assumes the role of both Realm and Branch Leader;
March 18: Lord WilhelmG, among the founding members of NOR, passes away;
May 7: Branch reports 5 members;
August 6: Branch reports 3 members;
October 29: SweetPe announces that both she and Arizen have cancelled their DAoC accounts, reports that the two remaining
members, Temaile and Gypsilady logged in most recently two weeks prior to this date. The branch would not be officially closed for another six months.

Game Events:
Nov 5: Labyrinth of the Minotaur, the fifth full expansion, added a new race, a new class,
a new RvR dungeon, and additional champion levels.

2007
May 6: With membership at an all time low, the High Council of the guild votes to close the DAoC branch. Lady SweetPe made the announcement on the NOR forums.

Game Events:
Sept 5: New New Frontiers, is released. This patch included a significant revamp of the siegecraft system.

Branch Specific Awards
Haileyan was awarded the Duke’s Award for Excellence on January 25th, 2004 by Duke Gilenrod after three solid years as a leader on the branch at all levels: as a member, officer and DMG member.

RvR Awards
One of the tasks that Duke Skorj set on Dungeon Master Talolan was to come up with RvR awards for the realm. Talolan got input from the entire DMG, and branch as a whole (with Mathais doing most of the actual work, and Haileyan and Mookster making significant contributions) and came up with the RvR awards below, based on the Realm Rank achieved by a character.
Realm Rank 4 – Defender of , and a small silver weapon/shield
Realm Rank 5 – Guardian of , and a large gold weapon/shield
Realm Rank 6 – Avenger of , and a Bronzed enemy head (troll head for example)
Realm Rank 7 – Sentinel of , Diamond Encrusted Siege Ram Realm Rank 8 – Vindicator of , Platinum enemy trophy (not just the head like before)
Realm Rank 9 – Juggernaut of , Mythril Replica Relic (ie: Mathais would receive a Mythril Replica Cauldron of Dagda)
Realm Rank 10 – Savior of , Marble Statue of him or herself Please note, this information is only available through the September, 2004, roster update.